Germany will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), is selecting its entry for the contest through the national final Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland?, in collaboration with private broadcaster RTL.

Prior to the 2025 contest, ARD has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Germany 67 times since its debut at the inaugural contest in 1956, making Germany, to this point, the country with the most entries in the contest: they have taken part in every edition except in 1996 when they were eliminated in a pre-qualification round.^[1] They have won the contest on two occasions: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole, and in 2010 with the song "Satellite" performed by Lena. In 2024, "Always on the Run" performed by Isaak placed 12th out of 26 competing songs in the final with 117 points.^[2]

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ARD organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. ARD confirmed its participation in the 2025 contest on 27 May 2024.^[3] Since 1996, ARD has delegated the participation in the contest to its member Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Since 2022, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete in the contest. On 29 October 2024, the broadcaster announced that it would organise a multi-artist national final in collaboration with private broadcaster RTL and Stefan Raab.^[4] Raab, a three-time German Eurovision participant (as singer and/or songwriter) and co-presenter of the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, had previously worked with NDR on its national finals between 2010 and 2012, which resulted in Lena's win and two further top ten results.^[5][6]

Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland? (English: Top priority ESC 2025 – Who sings for Germany?) is the competition that will select the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.^[7] The competition consists of two heats, a semi-final and a final that is taking place between 14 February 2025 and 1 March 2025 at the EMG Studio 8 in Hürth, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger.^[8] The heats and semi-final are broadcast on RTL and online via RTL+, while the final will be broadcast on Das Erste and One as well as online via the ARD Mediathek [de] platform and ARD's Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.de.^[9][10]

The competition consists of four shows: two heats on 14 February 2025 and 15 February 2025, a semi-final on 22 February 2025 and a final on 1 March 2025. In each of the two heats, 12 of the 24 competing acts performed and seven were selected to proceed to the semi-final. The semi-final featured the remaining 14 acts from which nine were selected to proceed to the final. The results of the heats and semi-final shows were determined by an expert jury, while results in the final are determined by jury and public voting, the latter of which will include options for landline, SMS and online voting.^[11][12]

Interested artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition between 6 and 28 November 2024. Artists without their own songs were also able to apply and had to submit an introduction video along with a performance clip of a cover song.^[9][13] By the end of the process, it was announced that 3,281 applications were received, of which 1,198 included an own song.^[9] The 24 competing acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of Raab Entertainment, ARD and RTL, and announced on 4 February 2025.^[14][15]

The two televised heats take place on 14 and 15 February 2025. In each heat each of the twelve participating artists performs a cover song or one of their older songs, and an expert jury selected seven acts to proceed to the semi-final. The jury panel for both shows consisted of Stefan Raab, singer and actress Yvonne Catterfeld, and presenter Elton, while German 2004 entrant Max Mutzke and singer-songwriter Johannes Oerding were featured as additional jurors in the first and second heat, respectively.^[16][17]

The televised semi-final took place on 22 February 2025. Each of the remaining 14 participating artists performed their candidate Eurovision song and an expert jury selected nine acts to proceed to the final. The jury panel consisted of Stefan Raab, singer and actress Yvonne Catterfeld, presenter Elton, and singer-songwriter Max Giesinger.^[18]

The televised final will take place on 1 March 2025. The winner will be selected through two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, each of the remaining nine participating artists will perform a cover song and their candidate Eurovision song, and an expert jury will select five acts to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner will be selected solely through public voting. The jury panel that voted in the first round will consist of Stefan Raab, singer and actress Yvonne Catterfeld, Austrian 2014 entrant and winner Conchita Wurst, and singer-songwriter Nico Santos.^[12]

• Official NDR/ARD Eurovision site